Sunday, December 02, 2007

These three Greek Revival style entryways are on Joralemon Street and are adjacent to one another. They have noticeably different color front doors. The house numbers are 63, 65 and 67 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn Heights, New York, NY.

Period 1800 to 1835.
Modest in scale.
Architecturally simple.
Brick laid in Flemish bond.
Usually three floors, the third with a pitched roofline and dormer windows.
A brick or stone basement level foundation with windows.
The front areaway wrought iron gate was simple.
The doors had six or eight panels and usually had a top light and side lights.
Windows double hung six over six.
Parlor floors separated by rectangular double doors.
Wood burning fireplaces.

Left: A Federal style row house is on Charlton Street in Manhattan, New York City.
Middle: A classic Federal style row house circa 1817, except for a “not so minor” alteration of the third floor during the mid 1800’s.
Right: A Federal style row house on Gay Street in Manhattan, New York City.

Saturday, December 01, 2007

The Embankment in Downtown Jersey City which runs along Sixth Street from Marin Blvd. to Brunswick Street is an elevated man made structure over which the Pennsylvania Railroad once ran. There has been a lot of controversy about what to do with this massive property. The property was purchased by Steve Hyman (a local developer) from Conrail, but the Surface Transportation Board recently ruled that the property should have first been offered to public entities before it was sold to a private developer. To learn more about the Embankment try these two sources, Jersey City Conservancy and Embankment Preservation Coalition.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Henley on the Hudson, a new condominium development at Port Imperial, has new townhouses offered by Lennar Urban and Roseland Property Company. These new townhouses are neighboring the Brownstones at Port Imperial, another luxury townhouse development constructed just a few years prior. Henley on the Hudson features 94 condominium residences and 64 townhouses.

77 Hudson Street, a 48-story, 901-unit luxury twin-tower building under construction is gradually rising over the surrounding low-lying row houses of the Paulus Hook Historic District. Here is an earlier story dated 03/07/2006 from the Jersey City Reporter, ”Another Giant on Hudson Street”.

New Home Depot near the Holland Tunnel entrance, between Hoboken and Downtown Jersey City. For over ten years residents of Hoboken and Downtown Jersey City had to drive to Secaucus NJ or to Route 440 Jersey City, for the two nearest Home Depots, two round trips can get old real fast. For lumber and better service try Henderson Lumber on the corner of 1st and Marin, Downtown Jersey City.

Our daughter has been on a waiting list at the River School on Warren Street in Downtown Jersey City since September 2005. Last week we received a call informing us that a spot had become available. Initially I was ecstatic. The River School comes highly recommended and is considered one of the best daycare centers in Downtown Jersey City. Not to mention that managing our daughter at home for the last 18 months has been a very arduous proposition.

Yet after a weekend of giving the decision serious consideration, my wife and I opted to keep her at home. Ultimately we had to focus on what would be best for our daughter rather than what would be easiest for us. We agreed that she needed more interaction with other children and that the daycare center would provide plenty of child to child interaction. We also spent hours searching online for advice from child physiologist about the pros and cons of daycare.

Admittedly we should have put more time into researching our decision, but the daycare center required a response by Monday morning and a 2 month minimum commitment. Thus much of our reasoning was based on â€œparent intuitionâ€. We decided she should have limited exposure to attending classes or daycare for a maximum of 2 to 3 hours a day, so disappointingly we will need to make alternative arrangements.

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Urban living, real estate, restoration, renovation, investments, and raising children in an urban environment.....w/ an emphasis on the urban row house. Row houses are unique and are more in demand as the number of apartments versus the number of row houses increases.